Tamara Stefanovich (born 1973) is a German-Serbian pianist known for her interpretations of

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

and classical repertoire. She has performed with major orchestras and at international festivals, collaborating with composers and musicians in modern and classical music.

Early life and education

Stefanovich was born in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

(present day

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

) to a Serbian father and a Croatian mother. She showed an early aptitude for music and became the youngest student admitted to the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade () is a public university, public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it me ...

at the age of 13, where she studied under Lili Petrović. After receiving her bachelor's degree at 17, she attended for three years the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, studying with

Claude Frank Claude Frank (born Claus Johannes Frank; December 24, 1925 – December 27, 2014) was a German-born American pianist. Biography Of Jewish ancestry, Frank was born in Nuremberg, Germany. His father emigrated to Brussels after the advent of the ...

, and then moved to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to continue her education at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

under

Pierre-Laurent Aimard Pierre-Laurent Aimard (born 9 September 1957) is a French pianist. He focuses on contemporary music. Biography Aimard was born in Lyon, where he entered the conservatory. Later he studied with Yvonne Loriod and with Maria Curcio. In 1973, h ...

Career

Stefanovich has performed with several major orchestras including

The Cleveland Orchestra The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...

, the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

, the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, and the

Chamber Orchestra of Europe The Chamber Orchestra of Europe (COE), established in 1981, is an orchestra based in London. The orchestra comprises about 60 members from across Europe. The players pursue parallel careers as international soloists, members of chamber groups and ...

. She has worked with conductors and composers such as

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 19255 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war contemporary classical music. Born in Montb ...

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. According to ''Grove Music Online'', with a style that draws on " Bartók, Webern and, to a lesser extent, Stravinsky, his work is c ...

Hans Abrahamsen Hans Abrahamsen (born 23 December 1952) is a Danish composer born in Kongens Lyngby near Copenhagen. His ''Let me tell you (Abrahamsen), Let me tell you'' (2013), a song cycle for soprano and orchestra, was ranked by music critics at ''The Guard ...

, and Sir George Benjamin. Her performances have taken place at major concert venues such as

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

, the

Berlin Philharmonie The () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on Herbert-von-Karajan- ...

Suntory Hall The is a concert venue in the central Akasaka district of Tokyo, Japan. Part of the Ark Hills complex, it consists of a main concert hall, widely considered one of the finest in the world for its acoustics – Herbert von Karajan called it “ ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

’s

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

and

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

. She is a regular performer at festivals including La Roque d'Anthéron,

Salzburger Festspiele The Salzburg Festival () is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer, for five weeks starting in late July, in Salzburg, Austria, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart's operas are a focus of ...

, and Beethovenfest Bonn.

Recordings

Stefanovich's discography includes recordings of modern and classical works. Notable releases include Kurtág's '' Quasi una Fantasia'' and his double concerto with the Asko, Schönberg Ensemble under

Reinbert de Leeuw Lambertus Reiner "Reinbert" de Leeuw (8 September 1938 – 14 February 2020) was a Dutch conductor, pianist and composer. Life Lambertus Reinier de Leeuw's mother and father were both psychiatrists: Cornelis Homme 'Kees' de Leeuw (1905-1953) and ...

, which received the

Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

in 2018, and Bartók's '' Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra'', performed with Pierre-Laurent Aimard and the London Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez. In recent years, Stefanovich has explored improvised music collaborating with Christopher Dell,

Christian Lillinger Christian Lillinger (born 21 April 1984) is a German drummer, composer and percussionist. He was born in Lübben, grew up in the German village of Kuschkow, and has been living in Berlin since 2003 working as a musician and composer. Christian ha ...

, and Jonas Westergaard in the SDLW Quartet. Their performances in

and their 2024 album ''DLW: Extended Beats'' won the

German Record Critics' Award German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ger ...

. Additionally, in 2025, she released ''Organised Delirium: Piano Sonatas by Boulez, Shostakovich, Bartók, and Eisler'', a critically acclaimed solo album exploring the works of these composers.

Selected discography

* Béla Bartók – ''Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra'' (with Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer, London Symphony Orchestra & Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Pierre Boulez) – 2008, Deutsche Grammophon,

OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...

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* György Kurtág – ''Complete Works for Ensemble and Choir'' (with Asko, Schönberg Ensemble, conducted by Reinbert de Leeuw) – 2017, ECM Records,

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* ''Influences'' – Works by Bach, Beethoven, Berg, Messiaen, Ives – 2020, Pentatone,

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* ''Stefanovich, Dell, Lillinger, Westergaard: SDLW'' - 2022, Bastille Musique,

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* Hans Abrahamsen – ''Left, Alone'' (with WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, conducted by Ilan Volkov) – 2023, Winter & Winter,

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* ''Organised Delirium: Piano Sonatas by Boulez, Shostakovich, Bartók, and Eisler'' – 2025, Pentatone

References

External links

*
Tamara Stefanovich at Harrison Parrott

Discography on Presto Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stefanovich, Tamara 1973 births Living people Musicians from Belgrade University of Belgrade alumni Curtis Institute of Music alumni Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni Serbian pianists Serbian women pianists 20th-century women pianists 20th-century pianists 21st-century women pianists 21st-century pianists 20th-century Serbian musicians 21st-century Serbian musicians